WOMAN VICTORIOUS IN CLIENT-SEX CASE

Published: November 29, 1992

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 27—
A Superior Court jury has awarded $225,000 in damages to a Rhode Island woman who asserted that her divorce lawyer coerced her into having sexual relations with him.

In a verdict returned last week, the jury awarded the woman, Maria Del Rosario Vallinoto, $25,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages from the lawyer, Edmond A. DiSandro.

The jury's verdict included findings that the lawyer had intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the woman, committed battery and made fraudulent representations to her. It also found that Mr. DiSandro and his Providence law firm, DiSandro, Smith & Associates, had committed legal malpractice.

Mr. DiSandro, a trial lawyer for 32 years, admitted from the outset that he had had a sexual relationship with Miss Vallinoto, a citizen of Spain, while he represented her in a divorce during an 18-month period beginning in 1987. But he insisted it was consensual and said he and Miss Vallinoto had even discussed marriage. Claimed Sex Was Coerced

During the five-day trial, Miss Vallinoto testified that she had had sex with her lawyer about 200 times, contending that she had accepted his advances out of fear that he would intentionally lose her case if she spurned him. She said she had also feared she would lose custody of her 5-year-old daughter and be deported to Spain.

Mr. DiSandro's lawyer, Robert W. Smith of Providence, has filed a motion for a new trial. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for next week.

Miss Vallinoto's lawyer, Bart Molloy of Boston, argued that Mr. DiSandro's firm should be held liable because his law partner, Z. Hershel Smith, had failed to put a stop to Mr. DiSandro's sexual relationship with a client. Expects to Be Disbarred

Before the verdict, Mr. DiSandro said he expected to be disbarred if the verdict went against him. A disciplinary compliant is pending against him in the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

As Judge Alice B. Gibney of Superior Court instructed the jury, the trial boiled down to whether the sex had been consensual or coerced.

Miss Vallinoto testified that Mr. DiSandro did an excellent job representing her in her contested divorce from her former husband, Dennis R. Ledo. Mr. DiSandro secured for Miss Vallinoto custody of her daughter, 60 percent of the marital assets, all the valuable paintings in the couple's house and substantial alimony and child support.

Miss Vallinoto said Mr. DiSandro's unwanted sexual advances began the third time they met to discuss the case, after he had taken her to dinner.

Eight months after the divorce was final, Miss Vallinoto returned to Mr. DiSandro for help on other legal matters, which the defense tried to use to impeach Miss Vallinoto's credibility.

"Did it ever occur to you that having sex with a client while representing her in a divorce case was an inherent conflict of interest," Mr. Molloy asked Mr. DiSandro under cross-examination.

Mr. DiSandro replied that there would have been a conflict only "if I had put my interests in front of hers."

Miss Vallinoto said having sex with Mr. DiSandro caused her severe distress and to break out in shingles. She has been in counseling for two years and needs two more years of treatment, her therapist testified.